Grok 4.5
xAI · released Jul 8, 2026
- Type
- Closed
- Input
- $2.00
- Output
- $6.00
- Cached
- None held
List price · per 1M tokens · xAI at 500K context · machine-readable source ↗
Our take
Written Aug 4, 2026xAI's top-tier chat model placed second on Arena Text, the independent human-preference board, in July 2026. Its output price is lower than typical for the tier, but its request limit is half the size of the one-million-token peers.
Pick this for chat-quality-sensitive products on a budget. Use it if your context needs fit within 500,000 tokens. Skip it if you need a one-million-token context or multi-cloud hosting.
The case for it
- A first-tier Arena Text placing (July 2026) at a mid-tier output price.
- Low base price for the tier.
The case against it
- 500,000-token request limit, half the size of the one-million-token peers.
- Only xAI first-party and OpenRouter in our data, so fewer hosting routes than Claude, Gemini or the GPT line.
How good is it?
A closed text model for everyday questions, drafting, coding and tool use, including picking itself up after a failed step.
- getting answers to everyday questionsArena Text (overall) · 32nd of 168
- drafts, rewrites and editingArena Creative Writing · 24th of 168
- writing and completing codeArena Coding · 33rd of 168
- calling tools to carry out requestsArena Agent · Tool use · 9th of 55
- getting back on track after a step failsArena Agent · Recovery · 13th of 55
EverydayGeneral questions and everyday reasoning
Arena Text (overall)32nd of 168 · 1465
CodingWriting and fixing code on its own
Arena Coding33rd of 168 · 1513
AgenticPlanning, calling tools, staying on task
Arena Agent22nd of 55 · 0.016
WritingDrafting and rewriting prose
Arena Creative Writing24th of 168 · 1452
Placings on Arena's agent boards, from live sessions people ran themselves. A model can lead on one of these and sit mid-field on the others.
Boards this model appears on that none of the ratings above are built on.
Every published score for this model20 scoresEvery figure we hold, from 20 boards, with who ran it and a link to the source — including the boards no rating above is built on.
Where to rent it
Prices checked between 59 min and 1 hour ago — each listing carries its own date.
xAI, direct and through OpenRouter
The lab is also the cheapest we hold. The strip above and this offer are the same one, so nothing on this page undercuts xAI on 500K of context.
- per 1M tokens
- $2.00 in / $6.00 out
- Context served
- 500K
- Throughput
- Not measured
| Provider | In / out per 1M tokens | Context | Throughput | Trains on prompts | Logs prompts | Zero retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouterOpenRouter's own listing | $2.00 / $6.00checked 1 hour ago | 500K | not measured | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| xAIDirect and through OpenRouter | $2.00 / $6.00checked 59 min ago directchecked 1 hour ago through OpenRouter | 500K500K max reply direct450K max reply through OpenRouter | 61 tok/sthrough OpenRouter | DirectUnknownThrough OpenRouterNo | DirectUnknownThrough OpenRouterYes30 days | DirectUnknownThrough OpenRouterConfirmed |
| xAIpriority tierThrough OpenRouter | $4.00 / $12.00checked 1 hour ago | 500K450K max reply | 66 tok/s | No | Yes30 days | Confirmed |
OpenRouterAcross the 3 listings we hold: 2 say they do not train on prompts (1 of them only through OpenRouter), 0 say they do and 1 does not say. 2 appear in the zero-retention registry we check (1 of them only through OpenRouter); the rest are unknown to us.
What each host's API supports
From the parameter list each endpoint publishes. Streaming is omitted: nothing we hold reports it, for any model.
| Provider | Tool calling | JSON output | Strict schema |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouterOpenRouter's own listing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| xAIDirect and through OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| xAIpriorityThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Tool calling: 3 of 3 listings say yes. JSON output: 3 of 3 listings say yes. Strict schema: 3 of 3 listings say yes.
Models people weigh against Grok 4.5
When we formed this view
Recent changes
Each date is the day we first saw the change, or the day the maker announced it.
What we do not know about this model yet
- Nothing we hold says whether an endpoint streams, so we do not show it either way.
- 1 of 3 listings does not say whether it trains on prompts, and 1 answers only through OpenRouter, not for its own listing.
- We hold no batch or off-peak rate for any of its listings.
Licence and identifiers
What the licence allowsWe hold no licence record for this model. Inside are the identifiers you need to pull it — its Hugging Face repo where we have one, our slug and a machine-readable card.
Licence
We hold no licence record for this model, and no record of published weights either — so we can neither summarise its terms nor point you at the weights.
Identifiers
- Takes in, gives back
- Text, images and documents in, text out
- Catalogue slug
- x-ai-grok-4-5